Author Archive for Chris Finn

The US Power Soccer Association (USPSA) hosted the 2018 MK Battery Conference Cup Series, a national power soccer tournament, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, June 28 through July 1. The BORP power soccer program sent two teams to the tournament: The Crushers and the Shockers. The tournament was held at the Turnstone Center which is a beautiful Paralympic certified training facility. Thirty-five teams from four different divisions participated in this week-long event. It was the first time all the teams were able to compete and be under the same roof at the same time—that alone was awesome!

Shockers team picture

In order to accommodate all the teams, the Presidents and Founders Divisions (third and fourth divisions respectively) started a day before the Premier and Champions Divisions (first and second divisions respectively). The Shockers are in the Presidents Division and played three games on June 28, the first day of the tournament. Most of the players traveled the day before and with the three-hour time difference I believe that may have been a factor in their slow start to the tournament. The first two teams capitalized on some mistakes that we made early on and scored several goals each which proved too much for us to come back from. After a little pep talk, some coffee and a little fuel from lunch the Shockers came back and won their third game, finishing third in their pool of four teams.

The second day of the tournament began with another early morning start for the quarterfinals and the Shockers lost a close one but came back with a vengeance to win the next game, putting them in the fifth place game going into the third day of the tournament.

The Shockers started out a little slow in the first half of their final game on day three, which resulted in two quick goals for the opposition. With ten minutes left to go in the game we scored our first goal and kept putting more and more pressure on but just couldn’t break with the tying goal to send it to overtime. The Shockers finished in sixth place out of ten. One of the highlights for me was seeing the players transition from sleepy and passive, to the most tough and aggressive I have ever seen them play. Hopefully at our next tournament we will be able to start there from the beginning! Also, Ian Kinmont was nominated to the all-tournament team.

Crushers Team Picutre

The BORP Crushers started their three-day stint on June 29. Luckily none of the games for each BORP team conflicted making me choose which team to coach. In their first game, the Crushers came out and scored a quick goal on a corner kick with Jake Bath sneaking the ball directly into the goal between the two defenders. The final score was 1-0.

The second day they played three games starting at 8:00 AM. In their first early-morning game they went down 0-1 in the first half but rallied to win the game 3-1 showing much resilience. They went on to go undefeated in pool play and getting a quarterfinal bye. The team was extremely excited about this especially because we had just moved up to this upper-level division after winning the lower level tournament last year. This also meant that on our first game on day three was at 11:00 instead of 8:00 AM, giving us much needed rest.

Many of the teams were confident that we would do well because we were playing an aggressive style of play by always playing our goalie up court and having them intricately involved with the flow of the game versus keeping them planted in the goal. We call this the four-up system, and none of the teams have ever seen it or played against it.

In the semifinal game despite our extra rest, we played a little sleepy and passive which the opposition took advantage of scoring two quick goals in the first five minutes. After that, we woke up and dominated possession and play throughout the rest of the game but were only able to score one more goal even though we had multiple chances. This put us in the third-place game where again we started out a little slow and came on in the end and lost 2-1 finishing in fourth place out of ten. After starting the tournament so great the players were a little disappointed with a fourth place finish with their eye on winning it all. But after being promoted from the lower division up to the Champions division with much more competitive teams, the result is very respectable as most teams struggle with the promotion. From the experience the team definitely learned a lot, identifying areas we need to work on for next year to take home the title. Also, Calum Cain was nominated to the all-tournament team.

Overall it was a great tournament for both teams. They played hard, progressed and developed a lot, both individually and as a team, and learned a lot about how to deal with the agony of defeat. I’m proud of both teams and appreciate everyone’s hard work. including the parents, volunteers, and personal care attendants who help make the journey and experience as seamless and enjoyable for the athletes. We’re looking forward to next year and continued improvement. The BORP power soccer program would especially like to thank all the people who donated and assisted in the fundraising with the poker fundraiser to make it possible for us to attend. We are already looking forward to next year!

Whether you’re an avid poker player or a novice at best, anyone has a chance to make the final table at the BORP Poker Fundraiser, and this year was no exception. There was a first-time attendee, a regular, and a power soccer player and assistant coach at the table. But the person who won the tournament was Katherine Russell, who arrived at the tournament late because of a delayed flight, coming directly from the airport to the fundraiser. That’s how much she loves BORP!

The fundraiser had one of its best turnouts, with over sixty people participating. And while many were first-time players, one of the best things about the event is that people tend to come back year after year, making it feel like a fun game with family and friends, versus a cutthroat battle of competitors.

The tournament started out cautiously as everyone settled in, but by the third round, the “all in’s” were coming from every table and the first player was knocked out. Luckily this year we had instituted the ability for people to “buy back in” to the tournament by making another donation and almost everyone took advantage of this option which kept almost everyone playing in the tournament for the first two hours. From there people started dropping like flies. One could hear the cheers of joy and moans of despair as the last card in the hand was revealed to help someone win and derail someone’s hopes.

The final table had Adam, a power soccer player from Sacramento, against Katherine who helped to produce a documentary about power soccer. Adam was the chip leader by 4 to 1 at the start but Katherine clawed her way back, battling it out. Patience, savvy betting, and a few lucky cards put her over the top in victory. A spectator commented, “This kind of action should be televised!”

Thanks to everyone for supporting BORP power soccer and another successful poker fundraiser! With your contributions, we were able to meet our fundraising goal, raising more than $10,000! Mark your calendars for next year’s event February 23, 2019, to see your old poker buddies and make some new friends, too.

Big thanks to Bob Dubow for helping get the tournament started off with a poker tutorial that helped new and rusty poker players feel confident and comfortable participating. He did such a good job teaching people how to play one of the students knocked him out of the tournament! The tutorial drew a crowd and actually got people in the spirit to shuffle up and deal.

I’d also like to thank Jonathan Newman for setting up and making the venue look good, Betsy Dorsett and Daniel McDonnell for making sure everybody got registered, Danielle and Tiffany for quenching everyone’s thirst, and Sarah Dawn for providing the amazing food and treats.

This year more great support was also provided by Delta Gamma sorority throughout the night. They helped the entire event from set up to clean up and we couldn’t do it without them!

The BORP Crushers and Shockers went to Indianapolis from June 16-18 to compete in the US Power Soccer Association MK Battery National Tournament. Both teams were in the Presidents Cup Conference, which is the third of the three conference competing at the tournament. The tournament organizers put the teams in different pools so that they would not play each other until possibly during the finals and I was hoping for a BORP-vs-BORP finish.

The Crushers got off to a slow start compared to their usual performance, mostly because several players on the team had had surgeries during the year that affected their ability to practice for most of the season. They came away with a win the first game but it didn’t instill the most confidence. Luckily, as the tournament went on, they improved in their individual and team play while increasing the margin of goals they won by with each game within their pool.

The Shockers played hard in each game, playing against teams in their pool that had much more experienced. They also improved with each game and played with tremendous heart, finishing the last game in pool play with a 7-0 win. At the half during the last game we were ahead 2-0 and during halftime, one of the player’s dads came over to me to let me know that there would most likely be a three-way tie in the Shocker’s pool. This meant a tie-breaker of goal differential (or most goals scored throughout the games) would break that tie. So, going into the second-half we started scoring goals two minutes in and ended up winning 7-0, giving us one goal more than the two other teams and put us in third place out of five.

Entering the quarter finals I had to decide was which BORP team to coach because the Crushers were playing in one quarter final game and the Shockers were playing in another at the same time. Because the Crushers were ranked higher, I left my trusty assistant coaches, Bill and Travis, to coach them while I coached the Shockers.

The Crushers anticipated crushing the Tidewater Piranhas but with ten minutes left to go, they were only up 1-0 and seemed to have a little bit of nerves. The other team scored a goal to tie it up which seemed to motivate the players and they went on to win 6-1.

Meanwhile the Shockers were playing the second ranked team from the other pool and were in a tight battle at halftime with the score at 1-1. The team had many opportunities to score but were not able to finish and execute to go ahead. In the second half, the NEP Wildcats had a few breakaways, making several goals to bring the score to 4-1. BORP scored a last-minute goal to make the score 4-2. Even though we lost, the team felt good about their effort but it ruined the chance of having a BORP-BORP final.

The Shockers won their next two games in heated battles and back and forth play, eventually beating the Tidewater Piranhas 4-2. The tide went out on the Piranhas playing the BORP teams and the Shockers finished in 5th place out of ten teams.

The Crushers went on to easily win their semi-final game and faced the NEP Wildcats who beat the Shockers in the final, so they were out to take BORP revenge. BORP went up 2-1 at half-time and felt good about how they were playing and eventually went on to win 4-1 with great execution on set plays by Jake Bath, who scored directly from a corner kick. And Josh Burger received a corner kick pass from Calum Cain, putting it right past the goalie in the corner of the goal.

Both teams competed hard and were extremely excited about the results. Ian Kinmont from the Shockers and Calum Cain from the Crushers were selected for the Presidents Cup all-tournament team. Because they finished first, the Crushers will now move up to the Champions Cup Conference and hope to repeat their success next year. The Shockers, gained valuable experience this year and will hopefully be able to compete for that first place trophy next year to follow in the Crushers footsteps.

Many thanks to all the sponsors and donors who supported us on our journey, especially the Challenged Athletes Foundation who supported several of the players with grants and everyone who supported and came out to the Poker Slam back in February. And big thanks to all the family and support staff for making the trip fun, exciting and memorable for all.